


In the Middle of the Night

by kentucka



Category: Eureka
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, First Time, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-05-10
Updated: 2009-05-10
Packaged: 2017-10-28 13:20:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/308269
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kentucka/pseuds/kentucka
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Just out of highschool, Jack gets a job at College Security. On the beat one night, he runs into Nathan Stark.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Middle of the Night

**Author's Note:**

> spoilers for 2x07 (some of Jack's history)

Jack walked down his nightly route across a sector of the university campus. He was still fairly new to this, having started just a couple of months ago, but he already knew every dark side-street and the spots on the lawn which were hidden from the sidewalks by thick bushes.

His boss, pleased with Jack’s newfound skills early on, had told Jack that he had a natural talent for these things. “Maybe you’d like to consider a career in law enforcement?” he’d suggested, but at the time, Jack had just nodded his head and written it off as something far too risky to one’s health. Still, the idea had been planted, and on patrol Jack found himself wondering if this might be his next calling after pro sports. A couple of weeks later, he even had printed out the application procedure and necessary forms.

This night was no different, and Jack spent the lonely hours on the street planning ahead. He looked forward to a meeting with his uncle’s college roommate’s sister-in-law, or some similar kind of acquaintance, who was a US Marshal and would help him with his application. The US Marshals had quickly become his dream: tracking down criminals, outsmarting them, the whole country his playground. Jack knew it would be a lot of work to get in, but he wanted to try.

Walking along the Geek Street (as people liked to call it because most professors for math, physics and IT had their offices here) he heard a car failing to start. After trying the ignition three times the driver gave up, slamming the car door closed in frustration.

Jack hurried along, and got to the car while the driver was packing up his things in the trunk. Jack stopped next to the hood, knowing how easily people were spooked at night if you showed up too suddenly, too close.

“Excuse me, Campus Security,” Jack called out, and a young man peeked around the car before resuming his search for something in the trunk.

“Can I help you?” The man asked in return. “I’m not standing in a no parking spot, am I? Because if I am, you’ll have to help me push.”

Jack laughed to himself. “Quite the contrary. I wanted to ask if maybe I could help you.” He waited until the man zipped something closed, shut and locked the trunk, and returned to the sidewalk carrying a backpack. “I could radio for one of my colleagues to pick you up and drive you home. Or for a towing truck.”

The man shook his head. “Towing truck is too expensive, and I’ve bothered too many people tonight already.” At Jack’s inquisitive look, he cocked his head at one of the brick houses and added, “Sometimes I forget that unlike me, my professor does have a private life.”

Jack grinned at the self-irony, and quickly assessed the man facing him. He was a good three inches taller than Jack, and he looked lanky in his long-sleeve dress shirt, but Jack would bet all his savings that a nicely built body was hidden away beneath the clothes. The dark brown hair was kept short, short enough that only a slight wave showed instead of what otherwise would be full-on girlish curls. Not that curls would have managed to make him look any less male, not with the neatly kept beard.

Jack held out his hand, trying to cover his staring by introducing himself. “Jack Carter.”

The man shifted his backpack to the left, and shook Jack’s hand. “Nathan Stark.”

“Good evening, Nathan,” Jack replied, smiling. “Are you sure you don’t want me to call a car for you?”

Nathan grinned at Jack’s persistence, and Jack had to remind himself to close his mouth. Suddenly, Nathan’s whole face was alight, soft laughing lines around the eyes and dimples on his cheeks. Jack didn’t know what he felt stronger: jealousy at the easy beauty of this man, or the surge of lust.

“I’ll just walk. I’m way ahead of my deadline, so I don’t mind coming home an hour later.”

Internally, Jack shook his head. It was Friday night, this young man should be at one of the sorority houses, making out with a girl and getting drunk. Instead, the only thing he thought of was working on some paper with a deadline. Nathan really lived up to the name of this street.

“Where are you headed?” Jack asked instead, not quite ready to let Nathan vanish into the night.

“West. I’ve got a room at one of the dorms.”

“Good,” Jack replied brightly. “Mind if I walk you home, then?”

That seemed to bring Nathan up short for a moment. “What? No, but…”

“I know, you don’t wanna bother me. But I can’t let you run around here all alone past midnight, not with a good conscience. Who knows, behind the next corner there could be a mob of drunk and horny girls who’d launch themselves right at you.”

Nathan laughed again, this time a little incredulous. “What the hell are you talking about?”

Jack winked. “Oh, you know… Tall, dark and handsome. According to classic romance novels, you’re every woman’s wet dream.”

Nathan ducked his head with a small, uncomfortable smile, so Jack had to show mercy and give him an out.

“Don’t worry, my route ends at the Western Dorms. You’re not bothering me. In fact, you can keep me company.”

It took a second, but Nathan shook himself out of his embarrassment. “ _I_ should keep _you_ company? Just now it sounded like you were eager to stay in mine.”

“Can you blame me? It’s lonely out here.”

Nathan straightened, lifting his head and puffing out his chest. “Nope, I get it,” he retorted matter-of-factly. “People tell me I’m every person’s wet dream.” With that, he turned on his heel, faced west and started to walk.

Jack ran a couple of steps to catch up. “Hey, I said no such thing about _men_.”

*

“What are you studying?” Jack asked, just to keep them talking.

They were crossing a park, and Jack used his flashlight to make sure they wouldn’t trip over any bottles, and to alight some darker, hidden spots in his usual routine. Nathan had wanted to avoid the park with its barely-there street lamps, but Jack had argued that it was part of his duty to check it for this very reason. Nathan had been mostly quiet ever since they had entered, watching Jack’s practiced motions with the flashlight. As far as Jack knew, the man could be trying to remember some of the more remote places to bring his next date to.

“Math and physics,” Nathan answered.

“Senior?”

Nathan hesitated a moment. “Actually, I’m close to finishing my masters.”

Jack did a mental double-take at that. “You’re joking, right? You can’t be much older than me.”

“Twenty-three… I’m a little ahead of class.”

“You can say that again, nerd,” Jack laughed. “Oh, wait a second.” Off to the left, under some bushes by the wayside, Jack had seen something glinting in the light. He brushed leaves and dirt aside, only to find an engagement ring with a real diamond on it.

“Wow,” Nathan breathed right next to Jack’s ear. Nathan had crouched down as well, and Jack felt their shoulders and thighs bumping.

Jack shivered, but tried not to let it show. He turned the ring around, looking for an engraving. When he found no words, he hoped that the laser labeling of the diamond would still help him find the last buyer, if not the woman who had been gifted with it. He said as much, and Nathan chuckled.

“What are you, an aspiring cop?”

They got up again and resumed their walk through the park. Jack stalled for an answer, carefully putting away the ring so it wouldn’t get lost again, and wondered why he suddenly felt uncomfortable talking about his prospects. Just because Nathan was a genius didn’t mean he’d judge Jack if he couldn’t measure up. And although he knew he was still a long shot away from becoming a Marshal, he also knew it wasn’t impossible.

Calling himself foolish, Jack took a deep breath and told his story. “I could’ve gotten a sports scholarship, and I wanted to go pro after college. But that summer before my senior year in high school, I had a bad car accident. I, uh.” He tried, but couldn’t find the right words to say that his girlfriend had died that night, so he skipped it. Nathan’s eyes were already tinged with sympathy, he didn’t need to turn that into pity. “I had to repeat senior year, because my grades were down, and couldn’t play because my shoulder was still too fucked up. So, no scholarship. I had to find myself something else.”  
Jack couldn’t quite make himself go on about his plans for his future. He hoped Nathan wouldn’t notice that he hadn’t really answered the question.

Nathan nodded, and tucked his hands into the pockets of his dress pants. The backpack hung from his right shoulder, completely at odds with the rest of his more professor- than student-like appearance. _Clothes make the man,_ Jack thought, supposing that it gave Nathan an air of maturity to the rest of his age-group. Even though younger than those studying with him, he sure wanted to be taken seriously.

“And you ended up at Campus Security, of all places?”

“All my friends had graduated high school a year earlier than me. One of them enrolled here, and told me they were looking for someone.”

Nathan didn’t even ask when Jack left the path and headed for a small lake. He stepped through the line of trees onto the lake’s shore, and let the beam of light go around the lake once. He almost jumped when Nathan suddenly appeared next to him.

“It’s beautiful here.” Nathan’s smirk said that he’d noticed Jack startle, and enjoyed it more than he should.

Jack tried to ignore the knowing grin, the proximity he found himself in as Nathan took another step closer. “It is. I just can’t get out of my head how this would be the perfect place to be attacked. Nobody would see you, nobody would hear you scream.” Nathan just stared at him out of the corner of his eyes. It unnerved Jack a little how hard the other man was to read. “I’m sorry, that sounded jaded. And I’m not even really a cop yet.”

“So you _are_ trying?” Nathan asked instead, dismissing the apology.

“I have a friend with the US Marshals, and she’s trying to bring me in. It might take a while, though. I’m sure I’ll start out waving traffic and handling domestic disputes.”

“I’m no expert, but I think you have the right instincts.”

Jack felt his chest swell with pride a bit. It came from a stranger, but the compliment meant a lot to him. He was still so uncertain about what he wanted to do with his life, he’d take every positive reinforcement he could get. Especially since his mother was everything but supportive of the idea.

Nathan turned to face him, and Jack had to stop himself from backing away. Nathan stood far too close, way into Jack’s personal space, and the fact that he had to tilt his head up to meet Nathan’s eyes didn’t help. Jack’s heart was in his throat, its beating almost drowned out the gurgling of the creek leading to the lake.

“We should get going,” Nathan said, ignorant to Jack’s heart issues. “I’m getting cold.”

Jack realized that Nathan wore no jacket, because he hadn’t counted on having to walk the distance, and it probably had only 60. So he murmured something in the affirmative and ushered Nathan ahead, lighting him the way back to the pebble path.

Soon they had left the park behind, and were walking down another road that led directly to the dorms.

“Why are you even out here, Nathan? Good-looking guy like you sure has a girl sitting somewhere, waiting on him to give her more attention than a damned thesis.”

“It does eat up a lot of my time,” Nathan allowed, “but it’s not just the focus on my academic career. I don’t mingle much with the undergrads, and most people in my classes are older than me. I dated a couple of women, but it weirds them out. And—” Nathan cut himself off so fast that his teeth clicked.

Oh, Nathan had been right, Jack had good instincts. And those instincts told him now that Nathan was about to reveal something very personal, something that Jack _really_ wanted to hear. So he stopped, and waited for Nathan to stop and turn to him as well. With a couple of yards space between them, Jack insisted, “and what?”

Nathan hesitated, and with each passing moment Jack knew with more certainty that this was going to be very, very good.

“And I don’t feel particularly attracted to any of the men in my courses.”

Nathan eyed him warily, and Jack could see that, could read that, although Nathan looked as stoic as possible. Jack got closer slowly, and smiled.

“Man, if you’re worried about others thinking you’re bi, or at least bi-curious, you should be more subtle in your body language.”

“I’m not—” Nathan wanted to argue, but Jack talked right over him.

“Or do you only stand that close to men you _are_ attracted to?”

They were almost chest to chest, like they had been at the lake. Without the permeating scent of conifers around them, Jack picked up the remainders of Nathan’s deodorant. He made a show of sniffing Nathan’s neck, and felt secretly thrilled at the blush that crept up Nathan’s cheeks again. But the man didn’t even pretend to back down, and Jack started to like that stubbornness as long as he could use it to his advantage.

“I think somewhere in that statement was a question whether or not I find _you_ attractive, right, Jack?”

Holding Nathan’s gaze, Jack replied: “Do you?”

“What if?”

“You first,” and Jack had enough of the talking. He ducked under Nathan’s jaw again, but instead of smelling him, he set his lips against the pulse point.

Jack’s whole body felt on fire, weirdly on edge by the knowledge that he hadn’t received explicit permission yet. Somewhere in the back of his mind he still expected Nathan to push him away, deck him, or at least mumble something about all of this being a huge misunderstanding. So when Nathan gasped and his fingers suddenly buried themselves in Jack’s hair, the touch went through him like electricity.

“Geez,” Nathan hissed. His hands cupped Jack’s face and forced it higher. “Okay, yes, damn it,” he said, and Jack wondered what the hell he was talking about. Then Nathan put his mouth over Jack’s, open, soft, and Jack didn’t think about anything at all anymore.

Nathan’s tongue traced Jack’s lips before sucking on the bottom one, licking on its inside, against his teeth. Jack had to step closer to keep his balance, wedging one leg between Nathan’s, and allowed Nathan’s tongue inside. After he’d established dominance of the kiss, Nathan seemed to be obsessed with Jack’s lips, returning to licking and sucking them gently, making Jack imagine just where else this might prove to feel wickedly good. Nathan’s beard tickled Jack in the nose, and chafed his cheeks, but he didn’t mind, not with the pleasure starting to thrum through his entire being.

Nathan laughed as Jack tried to follow him when he pulled away. “Is that a gun in your pants, or are you happy to see me?”

Jack bit his lips, willing them to stop tingling. “I don’t carry a gun. It could only be my flashlight.”

“Don’t flatter yourself. It’s not _that_ big.”

Jack swatted at Nathan’s arm in mock outrage. “Maybe I would’ve said ‘you’ll see’, but now you’ve lost that right.”

Nathan kissed Jack again, opening obediently when Jack’s tongue demanded entry to lay its own claim this time. When Nathan’s hands shifted to caress Jack’s ass and pull their groins tighter together, Jack moaned.

“Okay, you’re forgiven. How far is your room?”

Nathan chuckled, leading the way through the deserted streets.

As they reached the door to Nathan’s room, Jack quickly radioed in to sign off and update his colleagues at the station, mentioning the ring and that he would get it to lost and found first thing the next day. Meanwhile Nathan unlocked the door and pulled Jack into the room. Jack had barely shut off the radio when Nathan pushed him back against the door, seizing his mouth at once.

Jack moaned his surprise and appreciation, and immediately began unbuttoning Nathan’s dress shirt. He was all for not wasting any precious time. But when the shirt came off, he could only stare. He’d guessed that Nathan was hiding a fine body beneath that elegant clothing, but he hadn’t known the man would be quite _that_ nice. Screw fast and dirty, Jack was going to explore as thoroughly as he could.

Jack drew away from the kisses to graze his teeth along one prominent clavicle, and held onto Nathan’s sides so he wouldn’t move, rubbing his thumbs over the hipbones. Slowly, Jack sank to his knees, latching onto either nipple, softly biting every single muscle of Nathan’s sixpack, and enjoying the deep groans Nathan couldn’t hold back as Jack nudged his nose against the tender skin below the navel.

“Jack,” Nathan growled a warning, the frustration evident in his voice.

As Jack looked up, he could see that Nathan braced himself against the door with both hands, his skin shimmering and his eyes screwed shut tightly. He grinned and placed teasing little licks all along Nathan’s skin above the waistband, while he opened button and zipper. Then he straightened again, slid the pants over the curve of Nathan’s ass, and settled his hands on those firm globes to knead the strong muscles.

Hungrily, Nathan bit and licked his way inside Jack’s mouth as soon as it was within reach again, even while he toed off his shoes and stepped out of his pants. He seemed desperate, because he tugged a bit too hard and a few buttons of Jack’s uniform shirt popped off. Nathan mumbled an apology while he rid Jack of the undershirt, and Jack started to laugh, but it quickly turned into a helpless moan as Nathan sucked on his neck, and started down the same tortuous path Jack had taken. It was revenge, Jack knew, but he couldn’t keep his hands from burying themselves in Nathan’s curls and pulling just a little. Damn, but his nipples were so fucking sensitive.

By the time Nathan’s hot breath soaked through Jack’s boxers, Jack was the one leaning heavily against the door, constantly murmuring encouragements and running his fingers through Nathan’s hair.

Nathan stood back up and manhandled Jack towards the bed a few yards away. “Boxers off,” he commanded, and Jack smirked at the bossy behavior while they stripped off their underwear simultaneously.

A second later, Nathan was on him again. The bed creaked dangerously as they tumbled onto it, but neither of them paid it any mind when their skin met. Before Jack realized it, they had a rhythm going of kissing, gasping, and rolling their hips together to get the craved-for friction as their erections brushed one another. Jack’s hands had a mind of their own, pressing along Nathan’s spine, following the sharp contours of muscle and bone, and grabbing his shoulders or ass to pull him closer, closer.

After a while of delicious mutual grinding, one of Nathan’s hands disappeared under the pillows, only to return with a tube of lubricant.

“Before one of us gets rug burn,” Nathan said, and laughed when Jack wrinkled his nose at the mental image. He hooked one of his legs over Jack’s and rolled them to their sides. “Come on, help me?”

“Sure.” Jack took the tube and squeezed some of the lube onto Nathan’s palm, then carefully closed Nathan’s hand to a loose fist and breathed warm air into it to heat up the gel. Nathan watched him silently, and Jack felt his heart picking up speed at the soft, intimate gaze.

After a couple of seconds, Nathan wrapped his hand around both their cocks and began to pump. Jack tilted his head forward and captured Nathan’s mouth again, but soon he was too breathless to kiss properly. The slick slide and pressure were too much and Jack turned his head into the pillow. As if he’d just waited for the chance, Nathan bit and sucked on Jack’s earlobe. Another pump and swipe over the heads of both their cocks and Jack was coming, mouth full of cotton and mind blissfully blank.

Absently, he felt Nathan going rigid in front of him, before the man too melted into the mattress and rolled onto his back. Jack shifted closer, and let his fingertips run appreciatively over those sweat-slick pectorals and abs again, dancing through their mixed come, while Nathan caught his breath.

“Is this where it gets awkward?” Jack asked with a smile, but only half kidding. He wondered if he should leave – if Nathan wanted him to. This wasn’t how he’d imagined their ‘roll in the hay’ to be. It felt like a beginning, rather than the peak and end of a one-night-stand, and that scared him a little.

Nathan turned to regard him through half-closed eyes, and Jack could almost see the calculations running through Nathan’s head. “No,” he answered finally, “this is where you tell me when you have to be at the station tomorrow, so I can make sure we have some breakfast together.”

If relief left him breathing a little easier, Jack wouldn’t acknowledge it even to himself. “Pancakes?” he asked instead, hopefully.


End file.
